Method of attaching soles to shoes.



D. W. SHANAHAN.

METHOD OF ATTACHING SOLES T0 SHOES.

APPLICATION mm SEPT. 19. 1914.

1,199,935. Patented 0m. 3,1916.

o O I 7/ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL W. SHANAHAN, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T CHAMPION SHOEMACHINERY COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

METHOD OF. ATTACI-IING SOLES TO SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 3, 1916.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DANIEL W. SHANA- IIAN, acitizen of the United States, and residing at Lowell, in the county ofMiddlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Methods of Attaching Soles to Shoes, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to a method of making shoes, and moreparticularly, to a method of attaching a welt to a McKay lasted shoe bya metallic seam passing through the insole.

Many attempts have been made to attach a welt to the lasted upper of aMcKay shoe by a seam passing through the welt, upper and insole, butwithout success, for the reason that it is exceedingly difiicult, and,as a matter of fact, practically impossible to properly position thewelt on such an upper with the required accuracy. In the methods andmechanisms heretofore employed for that purpose, the horn has generallybeen utilized as a gage for gaging the position of the seam with respectto the lasted shoe. It is, however, impossible to obtain, in thismanner, a seam which will be positioned close, uniformly and accuratelywith respect to the contour of the shoe. If this seam is not placeduniformly and close to the contour of the shoe, the shoe will not onlypresent an undesirable appearance, but will not be water-tight and ofsufficient strength to withstand Wear.

It is possible to guide the shoe by the contour of the insole. Inoperating upon this shoe, however, the last is withdrawn, and the shoeis supported on a horn and is fed by an awl engaging the welt and theinsole. Now, the majority of insoles used in this type of shoe areflexible and light, and some of them are of low grade material andflimsy. It has been found, therefore, that, in withdrawing the last fromsuch a shoe, there is a liability of pulling the shoe out of shape.During the attachment of a welt, and during the feeding of the shoe overthe horn, there is a further liability of pulling the shoe out of shapeduring this welt attaching operation.

In a shoe the welt must necessarily have a variable extension. Thus, inthe shank the extension is small, being only suflicient for the outsolestitcher to properly support the shoe when sewing the outsole to thewelt. At the ball, however, the extension is greater than at the shank,and this extension is greater on the outer than on the inner ball. Itis, of course, obvious that a guide operating from the insole contourwill not give this extension unless a movable guide, adjustable by theoperator during the operation of the machine, is used. Such adjustmentis, however, objectionable, for the reason that it requires theattention of the operator, and, therefore, decreases the output of themachine.

One of the objects of this invention, therefore, is to develop a methodof attaching a welt to a lasted upper by a seam of metallic fastenerspassing through the insole, whereby the welt is laid on the upper so asto give an accurate extension and so as to accurately place the seam.

Another object is to develop a method of attaching a welt to a lastedupper, in which the shoe is guided and the welt and seam positioned by apredetermined contour or templet on the lasted upper.

Another object is to provide a method in which the shoe, and moreparticularly, the insole is reinforced during its removal from the lastand during the Welt attaching operation.

Another object is to provide a method in which the welt is positionedand secured with a varying extension corresponding to the varyingextension of the outsole.

Further objects will appear from the detail description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a detail front elevation of a fastener inserting machineembodying this invention; Fig. 2 is a detail side elevation; Fig. 3 is abottom view of the guide; Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44, Fig. 3;Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the guide; Fig. 6 is a bottom view of ashoe upper with the templet in position and the welt attached; Fig. 7isa section on the line 77, Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 7,but with the templet removed and the outsole attached; Fig. 9 is asection on the line 99, Fig. 7 Fig. 10 is a section on the line 1010,Fig. 8; and, Fig. 11 is an enlarged detail of Fig. 10.

The machine may be any suitable fastener inserting machine, such asshown and de .scribed in U. S. Patent No. 1,091,298, March throat 15, adriver 16, a fastener stock guide 17, a combined feeding and cuttingmember 18, and a cooperating cutter 19 on the throat. The usual horn 20,having a clenching anvil, is also provided. All these parts are of theconstruction shown and described in the application referred to, but mayalso be of the construction described in the patent referred to, and mayuse the same string of connected headed nails.

The resser-foot has secured thereto, by screws 25, the shank 26 of awelt guide 27 which is positioned at an angle with respect to andextends underneath the presser-foot. This welt guide comprises an upperplate 29, cut away at 30 to permit entrance of the awl, and a lowerplate 31 to form a recess or channel adapted to receive and guide thewelting. The end of the welt guide projects a short distance below thepresser-foot so as to form a guide or gageface 32 adapted to cooperatewith a contour on the outer insole face of the lasted upper, ashereinafter described. The presser-foot may also have projectingtherefrom and opposite the driver a lug 33 whose forward edge is inalinement with the face 32 of the welt guide so as to cooperate with acontour on the insole. It is understood that either the face 32 or thelug 33 may be used for guiding the shoe, or both may be used inconjunction.

The shoe comprises an insole 40 and an upper 41 lasted in accordancewith the usual McKay method of lasting. The lasted upper has laidthereon a welt 43 secured thereto by a seam of metallic fasteners 44passing through and clenched on the insole. This fastener may be ofsubstantially the construction shown and described in U. S. PatentNumber 1,072,213, Sept. 2,

1913. An outsole 45 is attached to the welt by a line of stitches 46,and the space between the insole and outsole may be filled with theusual filling 47.

The method of attaching the sole or bottom to this shoe is as follows:The upper is lasted in accordance with the usual Mc- Kay method oflasting. A contour or templet 42, of leather, leather board, or thelike, is then positioned on the lasted upper while on the last andtemporarily secured by fasteners 48. This templet is died out or shapedto the contour of the outsole, but

smaller, and is positioned on the upper in the same relation thereto asthe outsole in the completed shoe. The last is then withdrawn with this.templet in position, and

this templet will, therefore, reinforce and hold the shoe in shape whilethe last is being withdrawn. The shoe is now placed on the horn with theI edge of the templet against the gaging face 32 of the welt guide, oragainst the gaging face of the lug 33, or both, and the machine started.As the machine starts, a fastener will be driven through the welt, upperand insole and clenched on the insole by means of the clenching anvil onthe horn. The end of the welt is thus attached to the lasted upper, and,during the operation of the machine, the awl'will operate tosuccessively feed the welt and the shoe by theengagement of the awl withthe welt, upper and insole. The shoe is guided, during the attachment ofthe welt, by the engagement of the guiding face 32 of the welt guide, orthe guiding face of the lug 33, with the edge of the templet, and sincethe welt is guided and positioned by this. welt guide, the shoe will beaccurately positioned with respect to the welt guide and the welttherein, so as to accurately position the welt with respect to thelasted upper. Since the outline of the templet corresponds to theoutline of the outsole, it is, of course, obvious that the welt will bepositioned in such a relation with respect to the shoe as to correspondin outline, as well as size, to the outsole.

After the welt is attached, the templet 42 is removed, and the bottomfilled with a filling 47 The outsole 45, which has been died out topractically finished size and shape, is now laid on the welted upper. Inthis laying operation, the outside edge of the welt, which has been laidto correspond to the outline of the died outsole, furnishes a guide forpositioning the outsole, whose edge is thus laid flush with the edge ofthe welt. The outsole is now attached on an outsole stitcher in theusual manner. The sole is now shaped on a sole edge trimmer in the usualmanner.

As herebefore described, the templet is placed in position while theshoe is on the last, and before the last is withdrawn. This not onlypermits the templet to be accurately positioned with respect to theupper, since any gaging mechanism used for placing this templet inposition may be gaged from the last, but it also holds the shoe in shapewhile the last is withdrawn. It also stiffens the shoe while the welt isattached,

and the operator can, therefore, hold the outsole, and, where theoutsole has a varying extension, the welt can be laid with a varyingextension, corersponding to that of the outsole, by giving the templetthe proper contour so as to give this extension. The welt will,therefore, be placed in such a manner as to make a correct and uniformedge. Since the welt is placed accurately with the outer edgecorresponding to the outline of the outsole, this outsole can be diedout to shape, so as to fit the outline of the welt, while placed on thelasted upper. This not only permits the outsole to be laid with greateraccuracy, but also permits the usual rough-roundin operation performedon welt shoes to be ispensed with, thereby resulting not only in asaving of time, but also in a saving of material. In practice,therefore, after the outsole is attached, it is only necessary to shapeup the sole. The templet can be used a number of times, and since it canbe made of a cheap material, its expense will be very small.

It is obvious that various changes may be made in the details of themethod without departing from the spirit of this invention, and it is,therefore, to be understood that this invention is not to be limited tothe specific details described and shown.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. The method of attaching soles to Mc- Kay-lasted shoes, comprising,feeding a welt on a lasted upper while supported on a horn, attachingthe welt by a seam passing through the insole, and guiding the lastedupper during the feeding of the welt by a contour separate from the weltand positioned on the outer insole face of the lasted upper.

2. The method of attaching soles to Mc- Kay-lasted shoes, comprising,positioning a welt on a lasted upper while supported on a horn,attaching the welt by a seam passing through the insole, and guiding thelasted upper during the positioning of the welt by a contour separatefrom the welt and pos1- tioned on the outer insole face of the lasted uer.

The method of attaching soles to Mc- Kay-lasted shoes, comprising,laying a welt on a lasted upper while supported on a horn, positioningthe welt, while being laid, by a contour located inside of the welt onthe outer insole face of the lasted upper, and attaching the welt by aseam passing through the insole.

4. The method of attaching soles to Mc- Kay-lasted shoes, comprising,laying a welt on a lasted upper while sup ortedon a horn, attaching thewelt, while e1ng laid, by a seam passing through the insole, andpositioning the welt and seam by a contour located inside of the welt onthe outer insole face of the lasted upper.

5. The method of attaching soles to Mc- Kay-lasted shoes, comprising,laying a welt on a lasted upper while supported on a horn, positioningthe welt with a varying extension, while being laid, by a contourseparate from the welt and located on the outer insole face of thelasted upper, and attaching the welt by a seam passing through theinsole.

6. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising, laying a welt ona lasted upper, positioning the welt with a varying-extension, whilebeing laid, b a templet on the lasted upper, and attaching the welt tothe laster upper.

7. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising, laying a welt ona lasted upper, positioning the welt, while being laid, by a templet onthe lasted upper corresponding to a varying extension outsole, andattaching the welt to the lasted upper.

8. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising, attaching atemplet to a lasted upper while on the last, removing the last,positioning a welt on the lasted upper by the templet, and attaching theWelt to the lasted upper. I

9. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising, attaching atemplet to a lasted upper while on the'last, removing the last, laying awelt on the lasted upper, using the contour of the templet as a guideduring the laying of the welt, and attaching the welt to the lastedupper.

10. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising, attaching atemplet to a lasted upper while on the last, removing the last, laying awelt on the lasted upper, attaching the welt to the lasted upper, andguiding the lasted upper by the templet during the laying of the welt.

11. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising, positioning awelt on a lasted upper by a contour thereon so that the outside edge ofthe welt will conform to the outline of the completed outsole,positioning the outsole on the welt, and attaching the outsole.

12. The method of attaching soles to shoes, comprising, laying a welt ona lasted upper, attaching the welt by aseam passing through the insole,guiding the shoe by a templet conforming to the outline of a diedoutsole. positioning the outsole on the welt, and attaching the outsoleto the welt.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of these twowitnesses.

DANIEL W. SHANAHAN.

Witnesses ALVIN R. TETLEY, FRED S. KIMBALL.

